1) It's so great to just be able to settle into a book and enjoy it, especially when it's a sequel. I have this very bizarre feeling while reading these books that I know I can just trust the author to write me an enjoyable story, and Marissa Meyer does not disappoint.

2) Marissa does a fantastic job sealing a wonderful story inside a
single book while still keeping the overall series story arc going. I am going
to read book three as soon as I possible can, and I know I won't be
disappointed. Bring it on!

3) I just have to say again what a fun twist it is on these fairy tales to see them brought to the sci-fi setting. It's great to see what connections I can make from the original stories to the recreation. Brilliant!

4) How I love the settings of these stories. We are on Earth, but it's Earth in the way future. Another brilliant stroke because it helps the reader connect with the story on one more level.

5) Sure, there is romance. But it is not all about the romance at
all. And yet, what romance there is works so well. It's the perfect
touch of romance mixed in with a kick-butt plot and characters to die for!

In short, totally, highly recommended, boys and girls, 6th grade and up! Start with CINDER and move on from there.

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Monday, December 10, 2012

I was introduced to the poem Ithaca at the Red Dirt Book Festival
in Oklahoma a few years ago. I was sitting at a signing table, and the
man next to me (a fellow author) struck up conversation. When I
mentioned I wrote books with mythology in them, he told me about a poem.
I didn't think much about it at the time. In fact, I wasn't really sure
what he was talking about.

A poem about Ithaca? Just another story of Odysseus?

I wasn't really sure what was to be gained. But when I got back home, I
received a nice email along with a link to said poem. And I've loved the
poem so much that I now have it printed and hanging above my desk in my
office.

It's by poet Constantine P. Cavafy, and seeing as how he is long since dead, I am safe in placing it below.

When you set sail for Ithaca,

wish for the road to be long,

full of adventures, full of knowledge.

The Lestrygonians and the Cyclopes,

an angry Poseidon — do not fear.

You will never find such on your path,

if your thoughts remain lofty, and your spirit

and body are touched by a fine emotion.

The Lestrygonians and the Cyclopes,

a savage Poseidon you will not encounter,

if you do not carry them within your spirit,

if your spirit does not place them before you.

Wish for the road to be long.

Many the summer mornings to be when

with what pleasure, what joy

you will enter ports seen for the first time.

Stop at Phoenician markets,

and purchase the fine goods,

nacre and coral, amber and ebony,

and exquisite perfumes of all sorts,

the most delicate fragrances you can find.

To many Egyptian cities you must go,

to learn and learn from the cultivated.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.

To arrive there is your final destination.

But do not hurry the voyage at all.

It is better for it to last many years,

and when old to rest in the island,

rich with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaca to offer you wealth.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful journey.

Without her you would not have set out on the road.

Nothing more does she have to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.

Wise as you have become, with so much experience,

you must already have understood what Ithaca means.

There are tons of translations of this poem (seeing as how it was
originally written in Greek). Translations aside, here is what the poem
means to me. Here's what I need to remind myself of constantly.

Goals are great and all, but it's not about the destination. It's all about the journey.

Things like getting a book published take a long time. The journey to
get a book published can take forever. It's filled with things like
first drafts, revisions, edit letters, and queries. There are
submissions and marketing plans and interview and copyedits. There are
agents and editors and librarians and booksellers. And finally, just
maybe if you've worked and worked and worked, the publication goal that
you've been seeking for so long will finally come to pass. Your
destination will be reached. But with all the time it took to get there,
it's important above all else to enjoy the journey.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Hi! P. J. Hoover here, author of the upcoming dystopian/mythology YA novel, SOLSTICE (Tor Teen, June 18, 2013), and I'm thrilled to host this stop for the YA Scavenger Hunt! I'm crazy excited that this is the very first giveaway for an ARC of SOLSTICE ever!

(and p.s. I'm so excited that I'm giving away a second ARC of SOLSTICE below, so make sure to check it out!)

Hi! Thanks for visiting!

(And just FYI, I survived a horde of slugs to get the above picture taken.

It was scary!)

This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team!But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there is also a red team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five signed books!

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.

*** SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE ***

Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!).

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by August 5, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

RACHEL'S BIO: Rachel Carter is the author of So Close to You, the start of a time travel
trilogy with HarperTeen. She grew up in the woods of Vermont, and
recently graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in nonfiction
writing. These days you can find her in Brooklyn, New York, where she is
hard at work on her next novel.

Lydia Bentley has heard stories about the Montauk Project all her life: stories about the strange things that took place at the abandoned military base near her home and the people who've disappeared over the years. Stories about people like her own great-grandfather. When Lydia stumbles into a portal that transports her to a dangerous and strange new reality, she discovers that all the stories she's ever heard about the Montauk Project are true, and that she's in the middle of one of the most dangerous experiments in history.

***

Rachel has an awesome treat for you guys today for exclusive content! She has a hidden page with a secret password that contains an exclusive scene from THIS STRANGE AND FAMILIAR PLACE, the second book in the SO CLOSE TO YOU trilogy!

And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, RACHEL CARTER, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 13. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author!

Piper's world is dying. Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat
bubbles that threaten to destroy the earth. Amid this global heating
crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who
suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on
her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious
errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom.

Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods
and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis.
While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals
out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that
has been kept from her since birth.

***

And one more time...

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author!

1) It's rare that I actually read the third book in a series these days. With so many new books being published all the time, for a series to draw me back again and then again definitely makes a statement.

2) Of the three books in the trilogy, SHADES OF EARTH is by far the best as far as the science and the story go. They are on the planet. Lots of things happen. And...

3) ...there is some cool science fiction going on in this story. Whereas the first two books in the series could be generalized under teen romance, SHADES OF EARTH definitely delves more deeply into the science of things. It gives us the answers to questions we've had since we picked up ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.

4) Does everything end happy? Well, technically if I gave you the answer to that question, it would be considered a huge spoiler. So suffice it to say that if you've read books 1 and 2, you should definitely not stop there. Pick up SHADES OF EARTH and see how everything comes out.

5) Highly recommended for boys and girls, fans of romance and science-fiction, seventh grade and up.

Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They're ready to start life afresh--to build a home--on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience.
But this new Earth isn't the paradise Amy had been hoping for. There are giant pterodactyl-like birds, purple flowers with mind-numbing toxins, and mysterious, unexplained ruins that hold more secrets than their stone walls first let on. The biggest secret of all? Godspeed's former passengers aren't alone on this planet. And if they're going to stay, they'll have to fight.
Amy and Elder must race to discover who--or what--else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. They will have to look inward to the very core of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed--friends, family, life on Earth--will have been for nothing.
FUELED BY LIES.RULED BY CHAOS.ALMOST HOME.

Elizabeth Caldwell has perfected the art of pretending to feel emotion, but it’s always a lie. After a near-fatal car accident when she was a small child, Elizabeth lost the ability to feel any emotion, but along with that loss she gained bizarre abilities: she can see the personified Emotions she cannot feel. Fury, Resentment, Longing—they’ve all given up on her, because she doesn't succumb to their touch. All, that is, save one. Fear. He’s consumed by the mystery of Elizabeth’s past, consumed by her.

And then there are Elizabeth's cryptic, recurring dreams, in which there’s always love, and there’s always death. Haunted by these dreams, Elizabeth paints them, knowing that they somehow hold the key to the mystery of her past.

But a shadowy menace is stalking Elizabeth. Her survival depends on uncovering the truth about herself. And when it matters most, she won’t be able to rely on Fear to save her.

Kelsey is very enthusiastic about her debut novel's cover; here is what she has to say about the design:

"It is gorgeous, eerie, and maybe a little strange. I love how much relevance it has to the story, as well. The farmland in the background, the town, the stormy sky, the leaves, the way the girl is vanishing. The point is, I am in love. Hope you adore it as much as I do."

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Today I am so happy to welcome friend and author Suzanne Morgan Williams as my former debut! I've had the pleasure of attending a few librarian conferences with Suzy, and every time has been not only an honor, but so much fun, too!

PJHoover: Okay, so it’s been 3 years since you graduated from your debut class. Personally, I miss the heck out of knowing what my classmates are up to. So give us the low-down. What have you been up to in the last few years? New books? New degrees? New pets? What has been going on, and what do we have to look forward to from you in the future?

SMW: The last three years have flown by. When Bull Rider came out I started doing a lot of speaking at schools, teacher and librarian conventions, and writers’ conferences. In the last three years I’ve spoken to tens of thousands of students in twenty-one states. Bull Rider ended up on seven state award nomination lists (the latest is the Wyoming Indian Paintbrush nomination for 2012) and winning a Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. There were months that I felt more at home in the Reno airport than at my house. I’ve also been working on new projects – one is out on submission now – and I had a nonfiction book published, China’s Daughters; Women Who Shaped Chinese History (Pacific View Press, 2011). No new degrees, but I was incredibly honored to be given the SCBWI Member of the Year Award for 2012. That award recognized my helping to gather information for the organization in support of more diversity in kidlit. In a group of so many giving and talented people, I was thrilled and humbled to be chosen. What you have to look forward to from me? – I’m not going anywhere. I’ll keep writing and keep connected. Hopefully, I’ll have a new title to announce soon.

PJHoover: If you could summarize to a debut novelist the best part of being a member of an author group like the “Class of” groups, what would you say?

SMW: At first, being in the Class of 2K9 was a bit overwhelming. It was a lot of work to get everyone talking and agreeing and aimed at the same goals and there were days that I wondered how big the pay off would have to be to support all that input. But once we had a cohesive group, I discovered I’d just met some of my new best friends. We continue to visit with each other, support each other with recommendations for speaking engagements, and with opportunities like this one – a chance to blog with P.J. Hoover whom I met because of being in the Class of 2K9. (She’s 2K8 and classes often share across years too.)

PJHoover: Though I absolutely loved being a debut author, I’m really thrilled with all the experience I’ve gained since. What advice would you give to those who are debuting now? What do you wish you had known when you started out?

SMW: This is an odd question for me because I’d had ten nonfiction books published before joining my debut class as a novelist. I already had some knowledge of the industry, although not of the world Bull Rider offered me. I guess my advice would be don’t feel compelled to do everything at once, to do everything that’s suggested. Find what you do best – whether that’s blogging, school visits, teaching workshops, online networking – and concentrate on that. You can drive yourself crazy trying to master all the promotional techniques at once. Do a couple well, then move on. Oh, and help your fellow authors. Kindness doesn’t go unnoticed and good Karma is always – well good Karma.

PJHoover: In addition to writing the next mega-million bestselling novel, what do you want to accomplish in the next five years? Do you want to write five more books? Get your black belt in Kung Fu? Walk the Great Wall of China? Let’s hear it.

SMW: I’d love to see two manuscripts that are very close to my heart published. I want to continue to speak to middle schoolers in particular. I’d like to raise a service dog. I love traveling and hope that’s in my near future, but more than that, I like talking to people, hearing their stories, connecting with their hopes and concerns. Being an author has allowed me amazing opportunities to open conversations. I’m hoping for many, many more.

PJHoover: Anything else you want to add? Five reasons to read your book? A picture of your writing space? How you celebrated when you signed your contract? Your choice!

SMW: So, five things I’d like you to know about Bull Rider – in no particular order:

1) I think after many revisions it turned out to be just the book it was meant to be – thank you, wonderful Emma Dryden and S & S.
2) I hear from parents, teachers, and librarians that Bull Rider is often the first novel their reluctant boy readers have finished. That makes me happy
3) The story is fiction but the situation is real. We have hundreds of thousands of veterans of the Middle East wars and they and their families need our support. I’d love you to find out what your community is doing to help. Visit www.IAVA.org for information or go to my website www.suzannemorganwilliams.com and open the “For Veterans” page. There are listings of many organizations that are helping as well as ways for readers to support overseas active duty military.
4) Nevada is not a big empty desert full of sand and palm trees. It’s an amazing, mountainous, often snowy place with unique and fabulous people. Don’t write it off. Come visit
5) Bull Rider’s success depends on day to day word of mouth from people like you. It’s a book that could have slipped under the radar but it has a big reach. I want you to read it. And if you like the story, pass it on. That’s why I wrote Bull Rider – for you to read.

PJHoover: Thank you so much for being here! And good luck with everything in the future!

SMW: Thanks to you P.J.

*****

BIO:
Suzanne Morgan Williams is the author of the middle grade novel, Bull Rider (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009) and 11 nonfiction children's books with more books on the way. From the time she wrote her first book, Made in China, Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China, (Pacific View Press, 1997) to the present, her work has taken her into classrooms to connect with students, to universities and museums to work with experts, and to communities to share experiences.

Suzanne has traveled four times to the Canadian Arctic to work with Inuit people, writing The Inuit Franklin Watts, 2003, and has worked with Indian people from various tribes on books and projects. She is known for careful on site research, which for Bull Rider included interviewing professional bull riders, ranchers, and care givers who work with severely wounded veterans.

*****

Thanks for helping me celebrate former debuts! If you are a former debut and are interested in being featured, check out this post here!

PJHOOVER: I love the blend of real world and myth in your worlds. The two worlds are layered so well throughout. What first sparked the idea for the worlds in the series?

LAINI: Thank you! The seed of the book was a scene that came out of freewriting, in which a blue-haired girl was arguing with her monster father. There wasn’t a big picture or idea, I didn’t have any premise or concept in mind, I just fell in madly love with these characters and wanted to know who they were. I have found my optimal process to be a systematic alternation of freewriting and brainstorming. Starting out, I love to just let go and see what happens, what seeds of ideas my mind flings wildly out, and which of them end up intriguing me the most. In this case, Daughter of Smoke & Bone pretty much arose from the fact that Brimstone was wearing a wishbone around his neck and was a peddler of teeth, both things that appeared by chance in that first freewrite. It took thousands of words (and several months) of what-ifs to get a complex plot to “snick” into place. So, what is initially born out of a state of forced creative abandon (freewriting) is pretty quickly subjected to a much more rigorous and analytical state of mind (brainstorming). This wasn’t really your question, but I guess the answer to your actual question is that the worlds weren’t pre-planned. I didn’t know starting out that there would be another world. I believe that my freewriting brain supplied “the other door” in the back of Brimstone’s shop—freewriting brain is always throwing me mysteries to solve!—and … it had to lead somewhere … and somewhere became Elsewhere.

PJHOOVER: When it comes to marketing, what do you think makes the biggest difference in whether a book is successful?

LAINI:
*crickets*
This is a great mystery to me, and probably always will be. My thought is that the greatest factor—and probably the only quantifiable one—is publisher marketing dollars. Authors feel a lot of pressure to generate heat and buzz, but it is just so hard. Unless you’re already famous, then your voice just won’t reach very far no matter what you do, and every moment you spend on marketing efforts is stolen from writing. It’s not that it wouldn’t be worth it if it worked, I’m just not sure it does. Depressing answer? Sorry. I might be totally wrong!

PJHOOVER: Finish this sentence, and tell us why. Writing is a lot like…

LAINI: Writing is a lot like … um … dieting. No, really! It takes a lot of will and discipline and stubbornness, and it really affects your emotional well-being. A good writing day and I’m on top of the world, filled with confidence, pride, calm, happiness. A bad writing day and I’m anxious, grumpy, self-scathing, good-for-nothing. It’s the same with dieting. In both cases, at the end of the day, my self-worth is up or down depending on how I did!

PJHOOVER: What has been your favorite experience as an author thus far?

LAINI: It’s very hard to say! My earliest awesome moment was at a writing festival, when an 11-year-old boy swooned at my feet! He was a fan of my Dreamdark books, and literally fell into a swoon, on the ground, upon meeting me. That was pretty great. After that, I’d have to say that the parties that my publishers themed on Daughter of Smoke & Bone were pretty much beyond my wildest dreams. Little Brown’s was in New Orleans, and included “smoke” and “bone” cocktails, props like skulls, a fortune teller. My UK publisher hired this amazing costume firm, Prangsta, to kit out a historic nightclub in Piccadilly—and I got to dress up like a chimaera!

PJHOOVER: Please share your favorite inspirational thought!

LAINI: For writers: "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity." - Louis Pasteur
I have a lot more on writing, and a whole column of favorite writing-related quotes here: http://notforrobots.blogspot.com/

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Ar student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is--and what
she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give
anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world
suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlightfinds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While
Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and
starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for
redemption. For hope.

1) First off, yes, this book is a sequel. But that said, it will also completely satisfy people looking for a standalone read. THE BREAKAWAY ended in a conclusive manner with just enough open to leave us wanting more, and PIECES picks up with us getting a glimpse into the past but jumping full speed into the future.

2) PIECES kind of fits into this whole new genre people are hyping, "New Adult." Our main character, Naomi, is a few years older than in THE BREAKAWAY. She's in college, yet she's not far her teenaged years at all and has the same emotions seen in young adult novels. With this in mind, PIECES should appeal to those who read young adult and those who like novels aimed at more the adult crowd, too.

3) Talk about a page turner! Once I started reading PIECES, I couldn't stop. I had to find out what was going to happen, who Naomi was going to chose, and what choices she was going to make.

4) And when it comes to choices, Naomi gets in way over her head and has some big choices to make—choices that will impact the rest of her life. Michelle does a great job letting us see into Naomi's head and live her struggles along with her.

5) PIECES is highly recommended for fans of realistic fiction, young adult or adult, those who have read THE BREAKAWAY or not. I dare you not to love it!

Two years after
watching her kidnappers go to prison, Naomi Jensen is still in love with
one of them. Jesse will be released in a few years, and Naomi knows
college is the perfect distraction while she waits. But when her new
friend Finn makes her question what is right and what is wrong, she
begins to wonder if Jesse is the one for her … until she discovers he's
out on parole. Naomi must sort through her confusion to figure out where
love and freedom truly lie—in Finn, who has no connections to her past,
or Jesse, who has just asked her to run away with him.

Pieces is a companion to The Breakaway and can be read independently, if desired.

Friday, November 02, 2012

I'm so happy to be helping fellow Austinite Lindsey Scheibe with the cover reveal for her debut young adult novel! In case you guys don't know Lindsey, she's a fantastic, giving person, and I couldn't be happier for her!

One summer...Endless possibilities.17-year-old Grace is fully aware her best friend Ford has a crush on her, but she refuses to acknowledge it. Surfing with him is the only time she forgets about her abusive father, stifling mother, and the pressure to be impossibly perfect. She's not willing to risk their lifelong friendship to find out if it could be something more.No matter how tempting it may be.All Grace wants is to graduate, get out of the house, and make the UC San Diego surf team. The problem? She's never had the guts to sign up for a competition, the only way she'll ever get noticed by the UC scouts. Until that is, Ford does it for her.Now she has one summer to train. One summer to prove she's good enough-- to the scouts, to her parents, and most of all, to herself. As the training grows more intense, the violence at home escalates, and the romance reaches a point of no return.Grace is about to gain everything she's ever wanted... or lose the only things that have ever mattered.

Bio:
Lindsey Scheibe lives life on the edge. She's tried her hand at
surfing, bouldering, and most terrifying of all... publishing. Lindsey's
YA novel, RIPTIDE, sold to flux books and debuts in May of 2013. These
days, you can find her hanging out with her family, where she's traded
her hiking boots for family dinners and theatrical bedtime stories.

Starting October 15, CBAY Books will be accepting Science Fiction,
Fantasy, Mystery (and any combination of the aforementioned) entries
into the Yummy But Brainy Writing Contest. There will be two categories
that you can enter: Middle Grade Fiction and Young Adult Fiction. Here’s
how it will work:

Phase One:

From October 15 to November 15, is the
query letter phase. Entrants should send a query of their projects.
More information on exactly how to do that is listed below.

Phase Two:

After the month of queries ends, we’ll
select up to ten middle-grade and ten young adult submissions to advance
to the next phase. On December 1, we’ll notify the semi-finalists and
ask them to send us their completed manuscripts.

Phase Three:

On January 15 CBAY will announce six
finalists (three middle-grade, three young adult) who will receive a
free line by line critique of their manuscripts along with a detailed
editorial letter from our contest staff by January 30.

Phase Four:

The six finalists then have two months to
revise like mad! On March 31, final revisions must be returned to CBAY
Books who will post their first fifty pages online on April 15, to be
voted on by our readers and fans. This online election will run for two
weeks, closing on May 1.

Phase Five:

On May 2, the two grand prize winners
(one middle grade, one young adult) will be announced. Ebook versions
of their books will go on sale ASAP, followed by paperback publication
of their works about six months later. The Winner for each will be
announced on June 1.

But what do you win? Why should you enter?

The Winner for each category will win a publishing contract with
CBAY Books!

The finalists in each category will be considered for publishing
contracts as well. Even if they ultimately are not offered one, they
will have a publishable manuscript to shop elsewhere.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Austin Comic Con! The crazy, whirlwind weekend is over, but even with all the preparation and pre-excitement, I'm always sad when it's done. Still, the best thing is that there is already next year to think about!

A few quick things and then I'll summarize it with pictures...

First, I made the news! Yes, they interviewed me and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino. How fun is that?

Second, no, I did not meet any cast members from Star Trek: The Next Generation. They were seriously kept "safe" at all times. I did see them quite a bit, but they were never just hanging around at the signing tables. I'm pretty sure they would be mobbed if they did.

(which is why they have these signs around where they'll be)

I got this close to Michael Dorn.

I think he remembered me from the Star Trek convention I went to back in 1995.

Third, I am a bit disappointed. I saw no Klingons (except Michael Dorn). No Borg. I'm told there was one of each at the show, but I had no sightings.

And now, on to the pictures!

***

This year I shared the booth with four other awesome authors: Jessica Lee Anderson, Mari Mancusi, Madeline Smoot, and Cory Putman Oakes. Danny Woodfill at THE BOOK SPOT, a great independent bookstore in Round Rock, TX, sold books for us again this year!

Friday and Saturday had me dressed as Alice in Wonderful from the Tim Burton movie, the red court dress.

Saturday at the booth with Jessica, Madeline, Me (PJ), and Cory!

Mari (Friday) as Bat Girl!

Danny, ready to sell lots of books!

And check out all those beautiful Sharpies :)

It's always nice to change it up on the costumes, so Sunday, since Madeline, Jessica, and I were the only ones there, we dressed at the three fates.

Me (PJ), Madeline, and Jessica

We scared kids by handing out eyeballs :)

One of the best things about being an exhibitor is bypassing the huge crowd and getting in early. The con was packed and so much fun, and I was happy not to wait in a single line.

Everyone wants to get in to see us.

And the crew of TNG.

Getting in early allows pictures on the bridge of the Enterprise to be taken when no one else is waiting.

Costumes are fun and all, but changing out of them at the end of the day is always a wonderful thing.

Jessica and Madeline dressed as themselves.

I ditched my dress but kept my fancy hair :)

It's great running into people you know! We saw awesome English teacher, Valerie Burleigh and her husband, Austin writer Zaib Husain, Austin author Jo Whittemore and her husband Roger, Austin author Ernie Cline, and excellent publicist Jennifer Hill Robenalt just to name a few!

With Cory, Me (PJ), Mari, and Jennifer Hill Robenalt

Another great part of a con is meeting your neighbors! We were next to awesome comic artist, Jeff Balke and very close to my favorites, the Vamplets!

Jeff, ready to draw for the day!

The Vamplets booth, dressed up and ready to go!

Maybe the best part of Comic Con is taking random pictures with random people in random costumes!